Final Fantasy Zero
by xxokagomeoxx
Summary: This is my big huge crossover fanfiction, made up of all my favorite anime, manga, and video games. Don't ask where I got the idea...
1. 1:1 Prologue

When he died, I thought my life was over.

Inuyasha. The night he died – no, the night he was killed – was the last day I ever saw the Sengoku Jidai, and the first day of my re-modernized life as a present-day teenage girl. It was also the night I couldn't stop crying.

That is, until /he/ came to get me. When he finally found me… That night was both the worst night and the best night I'd ever had. The best parts are sitting next to me right now, and the worst part is the most persistent of my countless stalkers: Naraku. The night he killed Inuyasha, the Fayth rewarded him with the gift of immortality. Yes/rewarded/. It was Ki's idea to kill Inuyasha.

Ki, the Fayth of spirit, is one narcissistic little wretch.

A long time ago – maybe fifteen years ago – I was created by someone. I was an illusion.

He was lonely, with few friends. He was so sad. He was the kind of kid you look at once, then know something awful happened to him, just because he looks so pitifully sad. When he finally realized how lonely he was, he created me, a companion. We ended up falling in love.

One starry evening, when I had already fallen asleep, Ki visited the orphanage with a proposition for my creator: If I created an illusion of my own, and it was killed, I would become real. He wanted to know what Ki would get out of this, and Ki didn't answer with but another question: "Does it matter?"  
So, this creator of mine agreed eagerly, unaware that this also meant the promise of our separation.

When he created me, I was automatically 'assigned' to the family that would best suit his so-called description of me. The family turned out to be of Haruno Sakura, my elder sister and best friend. She, too, lived with us at the orphanage, as did many others. Those others were Naruto, Sasuke, Auron, Axel, Ryou, and Soujirou.  
He and I were very close. Painfully so, in fact, to the other boys at the orphanage, save Naruto and Sasuke. They didn't really think much of it.

But, whatever. Back to the story. When I had really grown attached to the other children at that orphanage, I was around fourteen years old. It was then that Ki chose to take me away; when I would me most apt to /want/ to make an illusion. That is the most common purpose of an illusion: to be a replacement.

Next thing I knew, I was a human, and my last name was Higurashi. I had a little brother, and I had parents that weren't dead. I even had a grandfather. Life seemed too good to be true, until I realized my friends weren't there. I was really hoping they had ended up with that fate, too, but it was not so.

At fifteen, I stumbled into the Sengoku Jidai for the first time. There, I met Inuyasha, my very own illusion. Of course, I had no clue that he was an illusion at all, and so I treated him as I would anyone else. Sort of.

Ki's plan /was/ to make me fall in /love/ with my illusion, after all. And it worked. By the age of nineteen, I was married to Inuyasha, living in bliss with some newfound friends in the Sengoku Jidai. And it was on what would have been Inuyasha's twenty-first birthday that his life ended, and I became real.

The Fayth – one for each element, making nine in total – each shot Inuyasha once with a gun. A real gun. I couldn't believe my eyes, not to mention my stinging ears. The shots were loud. The bullets were meant to tear him apart, but the purification of the Shikon no Tama had prevented it. He was weakened, though, and the Fayth knew that there was only one being alive who could kill him with the jewel infused with his flesh. It was Naraku.

Naraku could only kill him because he was weakened.

And it was then that my life both ended and began.

"Kagome!"

I turned around to see Sakura standing there, looking impatient, with her hands on her hips. Her pink-blonde hair hung messily out of the bun into which she'd failed to tie it, and her vivid green eyes were flashing with excitement and anxiousness.

"Are you feeling okay?" she asked, giving me a light shove. "You wouldn't answer me."  
A smile made the ends of my lips curl upward. "I'm fine," I told her. I returned the shove, but with less force than that of her own. I was weaker than she was. "You ready?"  
"Does it look like I'm not?" She was right. We were headed for a concert – my concert – and she was indeed ready to leave. She had on a purple sleeveless shirt with the band logo on it, a pair of tattered black shorts, and her favorite thigh-high boots. They had belts going up from the ankle to above the knee, and were made of a shiny black material appropriately called pleather. "You're the one who isn't ready, Kagome."

I rubbed the back of my head. "Sorry." Apologizing too much was one of my worse habits. "All I have to do is get my shoes. Then we can go!" I searched the room for my boots, found them, put them on, and folded my arms across my chest. "Okay, let's go."

"Right." Sakura grabbed the keys from the counter and bolted out the door. I followed as quickly as I could, but steel-toed shoes make it difficult to run.


	2. 1:3 Contrivance

It was that night. I'd finally get to see Hexias in concert! Not to mention the bloodshed…  
"Hey, Podge, you ready?" I said. I tried to make myself sound less excited. It was really cool, to be standing on top of the roof like that. We could see the whole crowd, and the stage. And it was really windy.  
"Just a moment…" He looked back at Lucia, his assistant. "Lucia?"  
"Yes, my lord?" That girl /still/ annoys the shit outta me, for some reason…

"Are the Living Water in their places?"  
"Yes." The little elf-girl stood up and pointed to a whole bunch of random places in the crowd. The Living Water were – are – Podge's creations. They're really like human water bubbles. It's freaky.  
"Good. Then I am ready, Lady Miyako." Podge bowed. I always liked him more than that little brat Lucia…

"Awesome!" I jumped down into the stadium, cane in hand, and made my way through the stupid idiots in the crowd to the stage. Hexias even stopped singing, and the others in her band stopped playing. It was really funny. Her eyes got all big and she looked at me funny, but then she got even more surprised and then remembered what I was there for.

"Miyako!" She kinda yelled it into the mic. Her glaive appeared in her hand, and a bunch of swirly black magic stuff made her cloak. The members of her band looked amazed as hell. So did that blond chick… Sakura, I think.

"Yeah, Hexias!" I yelled back to her. The crowd had gotten all quiet, so she could hear me.  
"Death and destruction!"

Podge and Lucia ran up behind me. I frowned and said: "Took ya long enough."  
"My apologies, Lady Miyako…" Podge looked up at Hexias. "I'm sorry we're late, Lady Hexias!"  
She grinned. "It's alright," she said. Her voice was all creepy and quiet, but still all high-pitched and stuff… It was always like that.

Podge held his cane up in the air, and the orb-thingy started glowing. All the Living Water started to beat the shit out of the people in the crowd. The band members were horrified. It was great.

Hexias jumped off the stage, ignoring her band members' barrage of questions. The blond girl followed Hexias to the ground. The crowd started screaming and running away, but surprisingly, no one challenged us.

"Kagome, what the fuck is going on?" the blond one asked.  
"Who? Kagome? Who the hell is that? Hexias, who's she talking about?"  
Hexias looked like she couldn't decide who to answer. She looked at the blond girl, then at me, and said hastily: "Tell you later." Meanwhile, Podge was getting all crazy again. He always does that.

"Kill them all!" he screamed. "Make them suffer until they're dead!" He was ordering his army around. An evil yet satisfied look was on Hexias's face, and that blond girl looked really mad. I laughed. She got madder.

"Who the hell /are/ you, anyway?" she asked me.

"Miyako," I replied simply. She glared at me. It was supposed to scare me, I think.

"Well, Miyako… what is your business here?" When Kagome heard that, she put her hand on the blond's shoulder. She had to reach up really far to do it, though; she was a lot shorter than that blond girl.

"Sakky-chan, calm down…"

Then a whole bunch of weirdos came rushing out from backstage. The four band chicks were trying to fight off Podge's Living Water. But those weirdos…

There were four of them. One had black hair with blue bangs, and blue eyes. Another one's hair was black, too, and long and tied back, and he had white bangs. One of them was an albino freak, and then the other one – which confused the hell out of me – was Axel. They all crowded around Hexias like she was hurt or something.

"Kagome, are you alright?" the one with the blue bangs was kind of frantic. He sounded really childish. And they were all calling her Kagome! It was really confusing.

"I'm fine, Soujirou," Hexias said. "They're attacking the crowd, not me."

"They'd better not attack you." Axel sounded all pissed and stuff. It made Hexias laugh.

Then the albino guy's eyes turned all black. They were green before. And this freaky ring around his neck started to glow. He looked at the Living Water, with this angry look and everything, and said: "Kagome, wait here." Then he ran off into the crowd, and the other three freaks followed him, plus the blond chick. Podge noticed, finally, and looked up at Hexias, kinda confused-like.

"Lady Hexias, may I ask who they are?"

"They are my guardians," she said. And she said it with this weird, non-evil looking smile. It scared me.  
"Hexias, what the hell…?" I said. "Since when do you need guardians?"  
But all she said was: "I'll tell you later, alright?"


	3. 1:4 Elaboration

Why'd they have to go and ruin it all? They're just big fat meanie-heads.

Kagome was doing great, and they all barged in like it was /their/ concert. And I was gonna go talk to her after the show, too! The reunion was supposed to be all perfect and happy, but NO!

"NYER!" I screamed it at the top of my lungs. I was mad, okay? "Leave Kagome alone!" I turned my locket into my Keyblade and shot a dirty look at everyone except Kagome, who looked at me like I was crazy.  
"S-Steph…?" she said in awe. I smiled.

"Damn straight!"

She blinked a few times. "I can't believe it!"  
"Who?" said this weird-looking redhead who was in the same kind of trenchcoat as Kagome.

"Steph. Steph Lockheart." Kagome sounded very surprised.

"Who is this, Lady Hexias?" a little gray-haired kid said. His eyes were a freakish blood-red color.

"And why the hell is everyone calling you Kagome!" the redhead yelled. I pouted.

"No, no… Why are /you/ calling her /Hexias? Her name is Kagome." I said it in a triumphant tone.

Kagome shook her head. She looked out at the crowd, which was mostly dead, and five people came walking up to us. Four of them were guys – really hot guys! – and one was this really tall blond girl wearing all purple and black. She stole my color idea…

"Sakky-chan!" Kagome said happily. It made the redhead look kind of disgusted.

"Please, Lady Hexias… Explain?" The little gray-haired boy looked almost as angry as the four hot guys. They looked really familiar to me, too… not just hot…

One of them stepped forward. His eyes faded from black to a really bright green. It was pretty. With concern in those pretty little eyes, he said: "We took care of the monsters, Kagome." He talked with a British accent.

Kagome rubbed the side of her head. "I know…"

"Something the matter?" This one was dressed in all black and white and gray. It was like he copied Kagome. His hair was even black and white.

"No, Auron…" Kagome was being sarcastic. I stuck my Keyblade in the ground and leaned on it.

"Jeez, how come no one knows each other?" I asked innocently. It got me a lot of dirty looks from everyone.

"Oh, please…" That gray-haired boy rolled his eyes. A little girl with pointy ears was standing next to him. She hadn't said a word. "It's obvious that Lady Hexias has a life that /doesn't/ involve worrying about social ties."  
"Guys…" That tall blond was really ticked. "Can we just leave? I think the smell of all this gore is making Kagome sick." Kagome nodded silently. Even /I/ could smell the blood. It was gross!  
"Okay, okay!" The red-haired girl held out her hands, and this scary firey tornado-y thing whirled around us, and then I couldn't see for a while…


	4. 2:1 Betrayal

Sometimes, I just get so sick of everything…

"So, what's this all about, Kagome?" Sakura asked. Miyako had taken us away from the morbidity of the stadium to a very grassy clearing amidst a dense forest of cherry trees. Unfortunately, it was summer, so the petals weren't falling. It was disappointing.

I let out one of my long, exasperated-sounding sighs. I do that a lot. Then I said, to everyone at once: "I'm sorry." Everybody stared at me without saying anything, so I continued. "It wasn't meant to end up like that…"

"Well, what /was/ it supposed to be?" Podge asked.  
"Yeah! What was it?" Miyako added. Strangely, Ryou and the others were being very quiet. Apparently, they weren't too curious.

"I was trying to train you guys," I said, motioning to Sakura and my other guardians. "It was the best way I could think of, since you'd never seen Podge's Living Water, and you wouldn't expect it at a concert…"

Podge glowered at me. I felt terrible. "Lady Hexias, do you mean to tell me that you /used/ me?" he asked angrily. I hated to think that I'd used him, but it was true.

"I don't know what I was thinking," I said sadly, looking to the ground. I felt a tear slide down my left cheek, and I closed my eyes. "I'm so sorry."

Sakura, Steph, and Miyako all tried to put their hands on my shoulder at once. This instigated one of the noisiest arguments I've /ever/ seen. I was just surprised the conflict about my name hadn't arisen.  
"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Sakura yelled.  
"What's it look like!" Miyako replied angrily. "I'm trying to comfort her!"

Steph folded her arms across her chest. "That's /my/ job! She's my best friend!"

Miyako and Sakura then said in unison: "She's my best friend, too!"  
"God damn it!" Axel yelled. "/We're/ the ones who protect her!"  
"So do I, you fucking moron!" Sakura cried.

"Guys…" I said, looking timidly up at them – I'm rather short – and wiping the tear from my cheek. I then felt someone else's hand on my shoulder. It was Podge's. I smiled weakly at him and said: "Thanks…"

He shook his head. I noticed that he looked kind of nervous. "Don't cry. Tears only convey weakness. Be strong, Lady Hexias!" He took his hand from my shoulder and then turned to Sakura and the others. "Now, now… Lady Miyako, let's not be rash…" I could tell he was trying to get them to stop, but I didn't know why.

Suddenly, a loud sound - an explosion - rang out through the woods. Several trees began to topple, and eventually fall. I felt myself being whisked away to safety, but I had to turn my head almost all the way around to see who it was. Auron's arms were the ones around my waist, holding me firmly so I would not be dropped. He always did pay the most attention to my safety.

"Thanks, Auron," I said softly. He nodded, then set me down gently and told me to stay put. I did as I was told and looked towards the others to see what was going on.

I then found out why Podge had seemed so anxious.

In the swirling, black smoke, I saw a number of figures. Among them were my guardians, Steph, Podge, and Lucia, and one more: Naraku. The /worst/ possible person to see. I glared at him, because I knew he could see me. As the smoke cleared, I saw him smile.

However, what's worse was that Podge was standing beside him, also looking directly at me. My narrowed eyes relaxed to seem befuddled as he took a step forward, pointing his cane directly at me. Everyone turned their heads to see what he was pointing at, except for Lucia and Naraku. They already knew.

"Podge…" I whispered, knowing he couldn't hear me.

"Forgive me, Lady Hexias, but I'm afraid I have to do this." There was a terrible smile on his face. The celestial orb on his cane began to glow. "Aeroga Flame!" he roared. At that moment, I couldn't even begin to describe my fear. He was using one of his more powerful attacks against me. When I looked for a very brief moment at Miyako, she, too, seemed flabbergasted.

A violent, whirling tornado grew before Podge. I can still see the burning flames carried in the sharp wind. The attack was hurled directly at me, but it missed – it kind of danced around the clearing, setting all the grass on fire, even though it was still green. Miyako didn't do a thing, because the fire would only help her, and the same with Axel. The others, though, were very frightened. Sakura was trying very hard – but failing – to twirl her bo staff fast enough to deflect the tornado, and the others were actually working together to create a barrier. They should have let me help; I'm very good with magic.

When the raging, fiery storm finally receded, all that remained standing and unharmed was Naraku, Lucia, Podge, and myself. I truly hadn't been touched. Naraku scanned the area for a moment, seemingly satisfied with the results of the attack, then grinned at me again. I only glared at him in return.

"Kagome, you really should watch your temper," he said. He said it in a way that made me so unfathomably angry, my blood boiled. I was very tempted to use Ultima or some similar attack against him, but I couldn't. Podge and Lucia were still beside him, looking equally victorious.

"Podge, how could you?" I said pitifully. He shook his head.

"I do hope you can forgive me. However, I believe we have bigger fish to fry. Accept this as a little parting gift, would you?" A cloudy puff of miasma engulfed the three of them, and an enormous machina stood in their place. I remembered it; I had seen Podge working to repair it more than once. He called it the 'Experiment.'

I must say, he'd done a /very/ nice job repairing it.


	5. 2:2 Confrontation

That goddamn asshole.

He betrayed Kagome. Even if I don't know who the hell he is, he betrayed her. That isn't forgivable.

When the attack hit me, it hurt pretty damn bad. I was on the ground before it was over. When it did finally stop, though, that bastard Naraku and the other two were just standing there with a fucking smirk on all their faces. It pissed me the hell off.

"Kagome!" I yelled. I couldn't find her. Then this noise came from behind me, and I turned around and saw this gigantic machina. I thought Naraku couldn't figure machina out, so I thought it was one of those little kids. It made me even angrier to know that.

"Sakura!" Kagome called out to me. She was running toward me from quite a ways away. I forced a relieved smile. As she got to me, her glaive materialized in her right hand.

"You're not going to fight this thing, are you?" I asked. She nodded, with that freaky smile of hers.

"It's weak against lightning, so if I can just find Auron…" Kagome looked around for a second, then found Auron lying among everyone else. They all looked unconscious. She pouted, but only lost the grin for a moment. "Guess I'll have to do it alone!" It sounded like she was trying to sound disappointed.

She pointed the blade of her glaive at the machina, which took until that moment to realize we were there. It was just that goddamn huge compared to us. Anyway, some electricity started to gather around Kagome's blade, and then the machina made an attack. It shot missiles out at us in, like, fifty thousand different directions, so it was hell trying to avoid them. But we did. Then Kagome thrust her glaive upward and yelled: "Thundaga!" And twenty or thirty lightning bolts all crashed down on that dumbass machina. That killed it, for damn sure.

"Awesome," I said, approaching the smoking machina with a grin. "Your magic still amazes me, Kagome-chan. That kicked ass."  
"I know!" She was always so cheerful. It was kind of scary. She and Soujirou were always like that.

Then the electricity stopped flowing around the glaive. The blade was glowing white now – she was using curative magic – and a wave of translucent white energy swept over the clearing. All the grass was restored completely, as were all the people lying in it. They all sat up, rubbing their heads or muttering some curses or something. Axel got up first and ran over to Kagome.

"Kagome, what happened?" he said. As if he didn't know. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine." Her smile seemed to anger him.

"I swear to god, I'll kill that Podge if it's the last thing I do…" His fists were clenched and he looked really pissed off.

Then Auron, Soujirou, and Ryou got up, plus the other two girls. Apparently, Kagome knew them, but I couldn't say I had ever even heard of either one. Actually, I was pretty sure she'd told me about the one with red hair, but she didn't say anything about where she knew her from.

"Now that you're all awake again," Kagome said, "I'll finish my explanation…"

Everyone was silent, waiting for her to continue.

"First, I'll let everyone know who everyone is." She gestured toward the girl with the red-tipped hair. "This is Miyako. She's the other half of our team, known as the Hellbringers. We are both part of the Organization, as well as Axel." Everyone sort of gasped or said 'What!'. It was very surprising to all of us. Then she went on, now looking at the girl with black hair.  
"This is Steph. She and I, along with everyone here but Miyako, grew up in the same orphanage." That one really got me. This was the first thing she'd said about that orphanage to anyone but me.

"What?" Ryou sounded confused. "I don't remember growing up in an orphanage…" He paused for a second. "But, then again, I don't remember growing up at all."  
"Hey, I don't either!" Soujirou said. He looked terrified. It was funny, really.

"It did happen, though." Kagome's glaive vanished, probably at her command, and she crossed her arms in front of her. "You know how I used to be an illusion?"  
Miyako and Steph looked amazed as hell. "What!" they both yelled.

"I was an illusion," Kagome said again. "Miyako, you're a ghost. It's the same thing, sort of, only I never died. You were brought back from the dead, and I was brought to reality."  
Miyako nodded with a satisfied, informed look on her face. Steph frowned.  
"So how come I'm not some kind of nonexistent thingy, huh?" God, I hated her. At first, anyway.  
"Just because I was created and Miyako died doesn't mean you have to, too." Kagome looked away.

Auron then spoke up: "Kagome, did you say Miyako was a ghost?"

Kagome looked at him strangely. "Yes… Why?"

"I, too, am not of the living world." That made everyone gasp, too.


	6. 2:3 Explanation

I didn't know who he was, but it was awesome to know another ghost. This black-haired, white-banged guy. Someone else who knew what it was like to be dead.

"You are!" I yelled. I was the only one who said anything but 'what,' and I was probably the one who knew this guy the least. It was sorta stupid of me, I'll admit, but that doesn't matter.

He nodded without saying anything. It made me kinda mad, but Hexias broke the silence for me.  
"Why didn't you tell me, Auron? Why didn't you tell any of us?" She looked sad.

At least I knew his name now.

"I was afraid you wouldn't let me remain as your guardian, to be honest," he responded. "It's a common mistake for people to think that the undead are weak."  
"But I know you're not weak!" Kagome said. Even I could tell he was pretty damn strong.

But that part about ghosts being weak pissed me off a little. "I'm /so/ not weak!" I said. "Dammit, I'm probably stronger than all of you put together!" I realize now that what I said was exaggerating, but…

"Yeah, right." Axel smirked at me. "You know I'm better with fire than you are."

I then noticed, sort of, that Axel was there. I mean, I knew he was there, but he was one of the people she'd called her guardians. That meant he knew what was going on.

"Hey, Axel, why do you guys call Hexias Kagome?"  
He frowned at me like he'd wanted to argue about the fire thing. I'm better than him, anyway.

"Because that's her real name," he said proudly. Tch. Like that was something to be proud of.

"What, you didn't know that?" Steph said. She was kind of getting on my nerves. "Even /I'm/ not that stupid." Like hell she wasn't!  
My eye flinched. "How did you expect me to know when she didn't tell me!" I shouted. It made Hexias – Kagome, I mean – look kinda scared. It made me feel bad.

"Sorry…" she muttered. "I thought you'd get mad at me…"

"Why would I get mad?" I asked.

"Because she's not just evil." That white-haired guardian of hers answered me. "She's also good."

That confused me. "How can you be good /and/ bad, Hexias? Oops! I mean Kagome!"  
"Well, actually, it's literally in my blood. I have equal desires to be good and to be evil." She pointed to the star on her forehead. "See this? It's gray, right?" I nodded.

The blonde girl took over. Sakura. "That means she's half light and half dark. Half good, half bad."

"Oh…" I said it like I understood, because I really didn't. "How'd that happen?"

Then there was this big pause. Finally, Kagome said: "I don't know." I felt sorta bad for asking.  
Kagome remembered she was supposed to be explaining something, but it made her think of Auron being dead, so she looked at him for a second and frowned, then continued. "Anyway, we all grew up in the same orphanage. There was someone else, too – my creator, I assume – but Sakura and I still haven't figured out who that is. All we know is that it was a boy, one year older than me, and some of his looks."

"Wait, you told Sakura?" The one with blue bangs said. I was frustrated then because I didn't know their names, so I promised myself that I'd learn them all.

"Yeah!" Sakura said. "She tells me everything! I'm her sister, for cryi—" but she stopped. Everyone except Kagome looked /really/ surprised. I don't know about me, but I know I was surprised, anyway.

Steph was the first to speak up. "You have a sister, and you didn't tell me!"

"Uh…" Kagome looked at her strangely. "How could I have told you? Until just a few minutes ago, I didn't even know who you were."

"Oh, yeah." Steph sweatdropped.

"So, you two are sisters?" Auron asked.

"You don't look anything alike," the blue-banged one added. "Sakura's much taller, for starters!"

Sakura glared at him. "Watch it," she said angrily. "I'm taller than /you, too, Soujirou."

Soujirou. Two down, one to go. That one white-haired boy.

"Stop it," Kagome said. "Unless you don't think it's worth it to be introduced to Miyako and Steph."

Both of us, like we were queued or something, shot death glares at Sakura and Soujirou. My eyes glow red when I'm pissed, and then I found out that Steph's glow black when she's pissed. Anyway, it made them sigh and stop arguing and listen.

Kagome went on. "Okay, Miyako, Steph, listen up." She gestured toward Axel. "Miyako knows who this is, but Steph, this is Axel. He's also an expert on fire, so they tend to argue a lot about who's better." She turned to Soujirou. "This is Soujirou. He's a water elemental, so he and Axel fight each other for the hell of it sometimes." Then Auron. "Auron is a lightning elemental, and as we all know now, deceased." You could tell she was putting exaggerated emphasis on that point. "He's kind of famous among guardians for having been Yuna's guardian. Yuna is the summoner who defeated Sin."

Even I know that.

Then, finally, Kagome motioned towards that white-haired guy. "And this is Ryou." Ryou. Dragon. "His element is earth. He and Auron can create dual-energy attacks that fuse into the spirit element. Soujirou and Axel could do it, too, but they're too stubborn." She laughed, and the other two kinda huffed at each other.

I thought Kagome was done, but she wasn't. She had a /hell/ of a lot more to say.


	7. 2:4 Cameras

So she doesn't normally talk a lot, but I guess she had lots to tell.

"You all recall the time Inuyasha was killed?" Kagome asked, looking all solemn and depressive and sad. I didn't know what she was talking about, but everyone else knew, so I didn't say anything. "Well, most of you know he was an illusion, too – Miyako and Steph should be the only ones who didn't know that – and that I created him. What I've left until now to explain was that he was based off of you guys."  
"Ooh, even me?" I asked cheerily. She shook her head, though, the meanie.  
"No, Steph. Only the ones who were my guardians. That means you weren't part of him either, Miyako," she replied. It made me feel a little better that I wasn't the only one. Miyako just shrugged.

So Kagome kept going. "His appearance, his personality, everything came from some aspect of one of you. His immaturity came from Soujirou, his overprotective feel toward me came from Sakura, his quick temper came from Axel, his determination came from Auron, and his loyalty came from Ryou. His white hair was from you, too, Ryou," she noted, eyeing the green-eyed one, "but I don't know about his eyes."

"Coulda been Auron," Sakura said. "He's got yellow eyes."

Auron blushed a little bit. It hit me then that they were all in love with her! Well, except for Miyako and Sakura, duh.

"True, but Inuyasha's eyes were a little bit darker than Auron's. They were more gold than yellow." Kagome looked apologetically at Auron, who was looking pretty disappointed. Poor guy. I felt bad, so I hugged him.

"Uh…" He didn't really try to push me off, but I could tell he didn't want the hug.

"Steph, what are you doing?" Kagome asked. My eyes opened all wide and innocent-looking.

"I'm givin' him a hug, of course!" I said. She sighed.

"You haven't changed at all…" she remarked. I nodded.

Suddenly, we heard something come from the remains of that machine-robot-thingy. I'm sure we all turned around, and watched, and saw something come out of the bits of stuff on the ground. There was a video camera with spidery legs on the bottom of it, and it was crawling around all funny-like because one of the legs was broken. I didn't know what to think of it, but it made everyone else really really mad.

"Alright, that's going too far!" Axel yelled. "He's got the gall to be a fucking turncoat, and now he's spying on us? Just how long has he been on Naraku's side?"

Kagome just stood there. Her eyes were kind of sad-looking, but not too surprised. Then again, she never did look very scared. Her eyes were always sad, too, and calm. Those big brown eyes of hers. Shiny!

Sakura ran over to the camera and picked it up, took the tape out of it, then stomped on it a million times until it died. It twitched once after it was dead, and Miyako yelled: "TWITCH!" But then Sakura stabbed it with her staffy-thingy and killed it for sure. She came back with the tape in her hand and said: "Let's just see what's on this tape, shall we?" She sounded really angry… but I guess I can't blame her. Apparently, that gray-haired kid was bad, even if he was kind of good at first, and… but then… Oh, never mind, I'm sure you get it. You do, don't you?


	8. M:1 Malice

I really did have to do it, and I must admit I didn't regret it much, if even at all.

"Lord Naraku?"

The spider hanyou turned around and glared maliciously at me. "What?"

"My probes," I said. "They're still –"  
"Well, go and get them!" He certainly was an impatient little – well, big – half-demon.

"Yes, my lord." I bowed to him, then looked to Lucia, who stood patiently beside me. "Lucia," I said, and she nodded. We both sunk into the shadows to return to the scene of the battle.

And, oh, what a glorious battle it had been. It had gone exactly how I planned.

When Lucia and I arrived at the scene, Hexias and her so-called friends were still gathered in the center of the clearing. My beautiful Experiment had been defeated, as I had so reluctantly anticipated, and was lying in a pile of rubble near the tree I was hiding behind.  
"Hey, Kagome," I heard one of them say. "Who /was/ that?" It must have been that black-haired girl.

"Naraku." That was Hexias. Her voice is so very recognizable. "My arch nemesis, if you will."

"More like arch stalker." That time, the voice was male. I couldn't tell exactly who it was.

"Stalker! Are you serious!"

"Sort of," Hexias told her. "I mean, he's in love with me." By then, I had figured that out. Lord Naraku had been very careful not to injure Hexias when he made his attack.

"Can we leave now? We'll go back to me and Kagome's house." This one didn't have any grammar skills, from what I could tell.

"Yeah, okay." Hexias paused for a moment, then said, "Miyako?"  
Miyako asked: "Where the hell is it?"

"Central. 421 Twilight Drive," Hexias said. Miyako then used her teleportation magic – I'm still a little jealous of that ability; I can't teleport – and they all vanished within a flaming tornado. I realized that it resembled my Aeroga Flame almost exactly.

"Now, where could all of my probes have gotten to?" I wondered in speech, emerging from behind the sakura tree. Lucia passed me and nearly dove into the remains of the Experiment. She seemed rather eager to find the probes for me, the dear.

When she returned, she held six probes in her arms, and I saw one looking completely destroyed on the ground beside her. I scowled.

"They saw one," Lucia said calmly. She walked past me again and started to disappear into the ground in a pool of liquid shadow, without my command. She was acting very strangely, and it wasn't pleasing me at all. Feeling a tad frustrated, I followed Lucia, determined now to find out what was causing her behavioral problem.

Then it hit me that the only possibility was Lord Naraku. He was controlling her, as he did to so many others… I wasn't sure of it, of course, but I thought it to be the most likely possibility. And so I felt a strong need to defy him, or at least act by my own free will. I headed for Hexias's house, the location of which was given to me by Unit-04 and Unit-05. Unit-06 had been mutilated.


	9. 3:1 Records

When we got back to the house, I was feeling terrible. Not just physically, though I did have a headache, but also emotionally. I was very angry, and so I kept telling myself that I'd been stabbed in the back for the last time.

So, when Miyako had warped us all there, Sakura and I led everyone inside. By the time I went through the door, Miyako and Steph were stunned at how big the place was.  
"Kagome!" Steph exclaimed, her eyes wide and gleaming in astonishment. "When did you get so rich!"  
"She /is/ in the music business, you know," Miyako said. She was trying to cover her surprise, though it wasn't so easy for her; she still looked amazed. "We were at her concert, moron!"

"Just shut up," Steph replied, sticking her tongue out at Miyako.

I laughed. "Actually, some of this money comes from our blob business." Sakura looked over eagerly.

"Yeah!" she yelled. "Our blobs rock!"  
"Blobs?" Miyako and Steph said in unison.

"Yes, blobs," I told them. "They're just materialized energy. It's an alchemical process."

Miyako frowned. "Alka-what?" she asked. Steph said, in agreement: "Yeah… what?"

I really didn't feel like explaining it, and I guess Sakura could tell, because she took over for me. "Alchemical," she repeated. "It has to do with alchemy."

"Well, duh!" Steph said. "But what's alchemy?"

"Oh, my god…" Sakura shook her head, looking frustrated. I nudged her and said: "Just forget it."

Then I felt someone pulling at the edge of my skirt. I knew who it was – there was only one person I knew who was short enough to do that – so, in an immediate and subconscious response, I rolled my eyes.

"Kagome-sama?" Tsumi said, releasing my skirt and looking up at me with that cute little stare of his.

"What is it?" I asked.

"The tape. We've got it." He pointed at the guys, who were gathered around the living room television and watching all of us rather impatiently.

"Oh!" I said happily. "Thanks, Tsumi." I ruffled his hair and ran towards the living room.

"Someone's been a good spy, that's for sure," Axel muttered. He sounded extremely annoyed.

Ryou nodded sullenly. "Watch." Being the one holding the remote, he put the tape on and turned the volume up. When the images started to flash onto the screen, one by one, I felt all the blood sink out of my head. I couldn't believe my eyes. The angles were perfect. The sound was flawless.

The only bad thing about it was the content.

As my eyes began to blur, whether it be from tears or my weakening senses, the images grew worse. The tape made its entrance with an image of Sakura calling out my name, and me running to her from where Auron had put me. Then it hinted that Auron was good with lightning, it let out the fact that Auron is dead, and, finally – the worst part – gave away one of my strengths. My restorative powers.

I would have cried, right then and there – seriously; just burst into tears – if I hadn't fainted instead. The last thing I can remember, even now, is hitting the floor. I guess I was out cold after that.


	10. 3:2

When Kagome fell, I couldn't have been angrier. I swear to god. I was so pissed off. Whoever had made that tape was going to die a painful death, and it would be me who made it so.

Well, maybe not. But still, I was fucking mad.

"Kagome!" I yelled, kneeling down beside her. She really was out like a light. "Kagome! Answer me! Say something, dammit/Kagome!" But she wouldn't answer me.

"What the…?" Auron was the first to notice. He kneeled down, too, and shook Kagome a little. "Kagome!"

Then Tsumi and Miyako and Steph and all of the others kinda gathered around poor Kagome. I felt so bad for her… After all, she didn't know what the hell else had been recorded on other tapes.

Axel pushed Miyako aside, receiving a swift smack upside the head from her, and then held his hands out over Kagome. I knew what he was doing. Soujirou, Auron, and Ryou did it, too. Axel's hands started to glow red, Soujirou's blue, Auron's yellow, and Ryou's green. All the glowing combined and turned gray, and then it faded to white – they were using curative magic. They all had to work together to do it, but they revived Kagome. Her eyes kinda blinked open and she sat up.

"Kagome!" Steph cried. She hugged her. It made me mad, but I don't really know why.

"Oh, thank god…" Tsumi breathed a heavy sigh of relief.

All of a sudden, Kagome's eyes got really wide, and she looked scared. "Podge…?" she whispered. We all turned to see what she was looking at – she was staring out the window – but I couldn't see anything. Miyako and Axel got really angry, though.

"What the hell is he doing here!" Miyako shouted, standing up. Axel got up, too.

"Damn it all…" Axel hissed.

"What the fuck are you talking about?" I asked. I stood up and looked out the window again. I started to feel something coming closer – something strong. I looked back at Kagome and saw that the others had all formed a wall around her, except for Steph… She seemed a little out of it.

Then there was a /huge/ explosion. So I figured it out, finally, that Podge was attacking. I also figured that everyone would shield Kagome, so I picked up my staff, which had been propped up against the couch, and faced the source of the boom. There was that damn red-eyed brat, sitting on this floating throne and smirking like a bastard. I gave him the angriest glare I'd ever given anyone other than Naraku.

"Why are you all so angry?" he asked. "What did /I/ do?" Then he held out his cane and screamed, "Aeroga Flame!" I remembered that one. So I jumped up and then off the couch to the right, over Kagome and the others and avoiding the fiery tornado.

"Podge, what are you doing here?" Axel yelled. "Leave us alone!"

Podge smirked again. "Oh, come now, Axel…" he said, aiming his cane at Axel. "You should have figured that much out by now, don't you think?" Then his pupils got very small, and his eyes wide. "Living Water! Arise! Attack those who protect Hexias!" I looked around, knowing he was summoning something, and saw the same creatures from the concert. The stupid water things started to attack us.

"Those were yours!" I yelled. He only laughed. The water things were giving Miyako and Axel hell, like before. Both of them were weak against water. Soujirou was immune to their attacks, of course. Me and Auron and Ryou – and Steph, I think – were beating the shit out of the water-things until Podge attacked again.

"Shockwave!" he yelled, followed shortly by: "Emepheron!" I saw a faint yellow light around the orb on his cane before I felt the electricity. His spells created two walls of lightning that were closing on us from both above on below. I knew this would take Ryou out in no time, especially with the water things to exaggerate the electricity.

"Ryou!" I turned around for a second, knowing that Podge could make another attack at any moment, and saw that the Brit had indeed fallen. Though Axel, too, was down, Miyako was still standing, but looking exhausted. "Shit! This is bad…" Then I looked back at Podge. His orb was swirling with differently colored energies. It took me a moment to realize that those were the colors of the remaining /standing/ people's weaknesses, aside from Kagome and Tsumi. They didn't have an opposite.

Then the energy around the orb rippled, and Podge yelled, "Celestial Line!" Beams of the energy shot out at us, finally bringing Miyako down and sending me, Auron, Tsumi, Steph, and Kagome crashing into the back wall. I could tell he'd used our weaknesses against us. I couldn't get up. I knew that had been a psychic attack. When I glanced around the room, Kagome was the only one left standing.  
"Podge…" Kagome growled. She materialized her glaive and pointed it at him with shaking arms.

"Yes, Hexias? You have a few last words, perhaps?" The orb on his cane generated a void, and I felt myself being drained of what was left of my energy. "Schwartz Strahl…" Podge muttered. The energy I'd lost had been sucked up into that void. When he spoke those words, the void inverted, and all of the energy shot out directly at Kagome.

And I couldn't save her.


End file.
